Agency Feature – IdeateLabs

We’re a group of people who don’t work. We get together every day, to do the things we love. For some of us, it means thinking up bizzare ideas and ways to present them, some of us get a kick out of cracking the best ways to reach audiences, while for some others it’s the joy of finding one insight after another.

And it so happens, our clients love what we do – whether it’s creating campaigns that turn viral, adding freshness to their websites or creating fresh digital experiences for people, just like you.

How did we grow?

We came into existence back in 2007 with a single office in Mumbai. From then to now, a lot has changed. We have offices in Delhi and Dubai, and are opening more branches across India and the GCC.

We’re collectively a team of 100 people being led by a group of Business Heads – each, an independent SBU Owner, driving it with complete autonomy.

How did we get here?

Well, we can safely say it was the drive to do bigger, each year.

What’s in the name?

It was the thought of art backed by science that gave us the name of IdeateLabs. It personifies a unique combination of Data, Intuition and Creativity, blending Science with Art. Our logo reflects the same, with red denoting creativity and the black denoting the foundation that holds it together.

It’s a culmination of what we believe effective communication is all about – the perfect blend of art and science, creativity and data, intuition and proof.

What do we do?

In short, we do everything communication. Although we’re a digital-first advertising agency, we also create 360-degree communication for several of our clients. But to be a bit more specific, here’s the long of it:

We’ve been digitally-inclined before digital was even a thing. We just had fun creating interesting solutions to business challenges. And we kept having fun doing it, time after time, challenge after challenge. It eventually became a way of life.

How do we ‘stay relevant’?

Digital yesterday, digital today and digital tomorrow – is not the same. In this dynamically evolving era, it’s very important to know what’s trending and what will. Currently, while we focus on the various Social Media Platforms to generate mass demand for brands we work with, we build chatbots* – a rapidly evolving technology that’s yet to take off.

*among a number of other cool things

We’re constantly testing and exploring new digital formats to work with and it helps us not only stay relevant, but plan well for the future.

Social responsibility in social media

We are our own gatekeepers, aware of the far-reaching consequences of a single tweet, a misplaced post, or a chatbot gone AWOL (our chatbots are well-mannered, thank you). When it comes to social responsibility, there’s the easy way and then there’s the right way we choose the latter.

Now that everything is so transparent, and all concerned parties are exposed to all the information, we urge brands to be honest, and emphatic with their consumers to avoid any kind of negative sentiment or incident.

Need of the hour

People who are ready to adapt. And adapt quickly. As we mentioned earlier, digital is different every single day. Our industry needs more people who are inclined to learning by themselves – be it a new writing style or new technology. Creating the wave and riding it are both very important to stay in the game.

We learned the hard way

Flexibility is the key: The more the flexible you are with ideas and time, the more efficiently you’ll crack a campaign.

Smart work over hard work: Hard work is necessary but sometimes smart work and the art of selling is what you need.

Dedicated not boring: Nothing can function without some humour in the air. The brand becomes your baby and you take care of it like a modern but a responsible funny parent.

Our Chief Happiness Officer comes to work smuggled in a cushioned box, he’s the only one allowed to bark back at the boss, scare the copywriters silly, and distract the media department with goo-goo eyes.

Come Friday and its Studio 54 – just without the horses, but plenty of karaoke wannabes, whose pronunciations are religiously corrected by the head strategist – the sounding board for many a successful prank.

Digital will become the primary platform for advertising. Having said that, advertising itself will evolve to be centered around content. Good engaging content is what will drive the industry. People are hungry for good content and digital is the best medium to interact with tomorrow’s buyers i.e. millennials.

A day without internet

We’d not go mental. Seriously. We’d not be hearing imaginary sounds of Email notifications. And message pings. We’d not compulsively hit refresh while praying to any God that will listen. Really, we’d be fineee.